Backyard Silver Latest Posts

Just how much money can you make from stock photography? I asked myself that question over 10 years ago, and decided the answer was to sell my images on stock agencies and see. Since then I have increased my income to more than $35,000 a year and I share the steps and lessons learned in the newly revised edition of my eBook – Getting Started in Stock. You are facing a simple choice – do you want to learn as you go, following the forums and their inconsistent information from people who may or may not know what they are talking about, or do you want to save hours of frustration and learn it all on one easy to follow book?

With the book giving you all the details on how this industry works and how best to make it work for you, then my blog gives up to date information and tips and tricks about selling your images that I still learn every day.

One of the mistakes we often make as stock photographers is to think that we know what the buyers want. Of course, we often do, and we see those sort of shots online each day, but a key message is to always be on the lookout for something unusual or different. If you can think of a use case for it, then take it to the best of your ability and get it online! I was reminded of this today...

I gave an hour’s presentation to the Winchester Camera Club last summer and recorded the audio of the presentation. The video I created overlays the audio soundtrack on the presentation slides to give you a solid overview of the stock photography business, my approach to finding subjects, some of my best sellers and my thoughts on how best to make money in this increasingly difficult business. This has been available on subscription for a while, but I decided to make...

I checked my account at Society6 this morning and found another sale. This time a woodblock print of a digital watercolor image of the San Diego skyline. Net profit – $18. Not the high margins that I have set on Fine Art America, but when I think about it, I haven’t sold a print there since January! That reminded me that a number of you have asked if I will write more about my approach to uploading to this site,...

Another month zooms by, and time for the February earnings details. February has always been a pretty consistent month for me and this year is no exception. That sounds good, but of course I have many more images and videos online each year and the ideal performance would be a steady increase. But these days, we take what we can get from stock photography! Total earnings were down a bit from the previous two years, but not by much, and...

I first started uploading to Shutterstock in early 2008 and this weekend I passed a big milestone: Things have not always been a smooth on Shutterstock with some down years, but adding video to my portfolio has certainly helped maintain some consistency on downloads. Perhaps I will hit the 200,000 download threshold in less than 10 years from now!

I know that many readers of my blog are beyond the beginning stage, but I recently came across this very extensive article aimed at explaining photography for beginners. An Ohio based photographer called Jo has created it, and covers the sort of camera you should look at, how to use a smartphone, what to think about in composition, landscape photography and finally she covers post processing. If you are just starting with photography (or want to improve your skills), it...

I wrote an update about my experiences with my first 12 images on Society6 earlier in the week, and that gave me the impetus to add more images and create more products, but also to learn more about how to increase your chances of sales. I’ve not found any easy ways to edit the pricing of the three items you can modify (the prints), and so I have this picture up on my second monitor to help me as I...

I mentioned back in October that I had uploaded a few images to Society6. I only put 12 shots onto the site and then promptly forgot all about it and never heard any more from them. Then, out of the blue I got a payment from them for $5.70 so I thought I should check! So I was surprised when I visited my page to find that I had 3 sales – one paid and two pending for a total...

I wrote an article last summer about my experience taking fireworks photos in Pittsburgh on Independence Day, and when I saw the latest Dreamstime Blog contest was about photographing events, I thought I would create a more specific “how to plan, take and post process great fireworks photos” article. The article is now online over at the Dreamstime Blog, so if you are interested in my latest thoughts on this, please check it out! One thought for this audience though...

I’m just back from a trip to Kauai (yes, again) and here are my top ten locations that you must visit and photograph if you are lucky enough to visit the island. Think of it as my top 10 instagrammable spots on an island full of them! Kauai is the oldest of the Hawaiian chain of islands and so is rightly known as the Garden Island for its exuberant foliage and geology. It was not for nothing that both Jurassic...